A Quick Hike In The Crisp Air

Trailhead and I decided to see if we could beat the incoming bad weather (snow/rain) and set out early this morning. We drove above the fog to blue skies and howling winds. Perfect!

TH had not hiked any of Rattlesnake Mountain before so we decided to check out the finished-in-the-last-year-or-two Rattlesnake Mountain Trail.

The trailhead is a dream! One can park at Snoqualmie Point Park or at the closer trailhead to the start of the trail (the park has a connecting short trail). The park has gorgeous views of the valley below and you won’t feel like you are only a minute from I-90 indeed!

The trail takes off through a recovering forest, crosses a road you will see a couple times (and to which is cool – bikers and horses have to use the road, the trail is hiker only.)

It then follows an old road bed, gone to bed long enough that there are trees growing in the middle now:

We went to the short turn off to Stan’s Overlook, which looks across at Mt. Si to the right. Mt. Baker, so far North, was visible (though not in the photo – it was to the right quite a bit).

We decided to have an early lunch as we were cold. Out there…..was a massive picnic table. You have to love that! It also sported two nice benches and an unimpeded view of the valley. I tried out an item I had picked up from PackitGourmet, the Ramen Rescue. I decided to try it out to see how it would fair being banged around in a pack as an emergency food item.

I got the version of the Ramen Rescue that came with a pack of ramen (they sell it either way and you have a flavor choice). The ramen was in perfect shape – no broken noodles. Which meant the bag had protected it with an air bubble of sorts – I had that meal squashed in my pack for a number of hikes! It came with the ramen, a bag of veggies, red pepper flakes and seasoning.

Me sitting there waiting patiently for the water to boil (OK, maybe not that patient 😀 )

Now this is where I deviated from the packed food – I tossed the ramen “flavor” packet, as it is where the majority of the sodium lurks. I cooked the ramen and vegetables for 3 minutes, drained the left over water and added in a couple packets of Parmesan cheese (What? You say don’t carry any? You should! It is a great shelf stable way to make nearly any meal taste better!). I tossed it up and had a sort of ramen primavera.

Packit now has so you can add in freeze-dried meat as well as a choice – which would be great for those wanting more protein.

Finally after getting good and chilly we packed up and headed back down. I saw these white/silver mushrooms on the side of the trail:

We bounced down, partially taking the road – and enjoying the wide views we got that way, then got back on the trail for the last mile down.

A map is defintly needed if you want to leave the trail – otherwise the trail is well marked.